1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to certain new and useful improvements in toy hovercraft apparatus, and more particularly, to a toy hovercraft apparatus which includes a self-contained toy hovercraft having means for self generating an air cushion to support hovering but no means to impart horizontal motion and direction and a launcher therefor which imparts motion and direction to the toy hovercraft.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
There are a number of commercially available passenger-carrying hovercraft of the type which create an air pocket in a skirt portion formed on the underside of the hovercraft. This air cushion supports the hovercraft above a supporting surface such as a body of water, or any other body capable of creating a type of air bearing between the surface and the underportion of the hovercraft. This skirt portion on the hovercraft generally defines a downwardly opening air chamber and a fan or similar mechanism creates sufficient air under pressure to form this air cushion to raise the hovercraft with respect to the supporting surface. In addition, these commercially available hovercraft include means for imparting motion, in a horizontal direction, after the craft has been raised above the supporting surface. Further, the commercially available hovercraft includes a means for guiding i.e., changing the direction of the hovercraft during the course of its travel.
Commercially available hovercraft capable of carrying passengers and/or freight would normally be subjected to a severe torque by the blower means which creates the air cushion which would thereby cause rapid rotation of the hovercraft and this would of course be undesirable. Consequently, the commercially available hovercraft employ some means to counteract the torque which would be caused by the blower. The means to counteract the rotational effects may adopt the form of motor driven propellers which would tend to rotate the hovercraft in a direction opposite that of the torque created by the blower means, or otherwise air ducts which are designed to permit air escapement in a manner to overcome the effects of the torque. In either case a great deal of energy is required to overcome the effects of torque.
There has been a toy hovercraft which included a blower in the form of a fan, but which did not contain any source of power in the toy hovercraft to operate the fan. The user of the toy hovercraft was provided with a hand held assembly which included a motor and which was connected to the fan in the hovercraft by a tube containing a rotatable internal cable capable of causing operation of the fan in the hovercraft. Thus, this type of toy hovercraft was not self contained and hence was limited by the length of the tube and cable arrangement.
There have been self contained toy models of commercial hovercraft, where the model was powered by an internal combustion engine. Such models create fumes and noise, they are difficult to start and operate, and the fuel they burn is dangerous to have around children because of its toxicity as well as its inflammability. Electrical or comparable power avoids such disadvantages, however applicants do not know of a satisfactory self contained toy hovercraft in the prior art. This may be due to certain practical constraints in the design of hovercraft which have not heretofore been overcome. One of the principal problems in developing a self-contained electrically powered toy hovercraft is that the hovercraft itself must include a motor of sufficient size to generate a large enough air cushion in order to support the toy hovercraft. Moreover, the toy hovercraft must also include a source of power for powering the motor. There is a paradox in the design of a toy hovercraft in that the larger the source of power, the larger the motor must be in order to support the weight of the source of power. Accordingly conventional C-type or D-type batteries often used in toy vehicles would add considerable weight to the toy hovercraft thereby requiring the use of a larger motor.
Another problem present in the design of toy hovercraft is the fact that additional motive means required for imparting motion to the hovercraft for movement in a horizontal path may present an added weight and cost to the toy hovercraft. Here again, the motive means which supports the hovercraft over a support surface must be sufficiently large to compensate for the additional weight of the horizontal drive mechanism, as well as any means to give direction to the movement of the hovercraft.
The horizontal drive of the toy hovercraft could be enabled by permitting air from the air cushion to escape at the rear of the hovercraft or otherwise to direct escaping air in a manner to provide a horizontal force to the hovercraft. However, this would still require additional energy and therefore the motor which is used to operate the fan creating the air cushion and the source of power for this motor would still have to be large enough to provide this horizontal momentum. Consequently, the very fact that the hovercraft is capable of providing its own horizontal movement would require a motor considerably larger, and a greater amount of stored electrical energy than a hovercraft which did not require means to provide horizontal movement. If means to provide horizontal momentum were self-contained in the toy hovercraft and the size of the motor and stored energy were not increased than the amount of time that the hovercraft could remain aloft would be sacrificed.
The present invention overcomes these and other problems. The illustrated toy hovercraft is designed so that it is self-contained and of light weight and hovers by a self generated air cushion. The toy hovercraft has symmetrical shape and weight distribution for rapid rotation without generating any horizontal thrust. The hovercraft also has a source of power that may be conveniently rechargeable. Further, there is provided an external launcher mechanism for the hovercraft so that the launcher may impart motion in a horizontal path to the hovercraft.